Visions for Savannah: City manager finalists address pressing issues in Q&A session

The Q&As focused on how their backgrounds would translate to leading Savannah and also delved into other visions for the city.

The following is a sample of media questions and candidate answers. Responses have been edited for clarity and in the interest of space.

Question: What are your core values as a leader?

Melder: "I am, above all, collaborative. You're relying on everybody's skill and expertise to be a part of the productivity. Second, is transparency. I think the more people know, the easier it is for people to get information and understand what the government is doing. And then, of course, integrity, especially when you're talking about the stewardship of scarce resources. And all those things add up to credibility."

Lloyd: "Empowerment. I want to empower my staff. With that, comes accountability and responsibility. The second one is development. You have to develop your people as a leader. Whether that's leadership development or other skillsets. Third is authenticity. As I interact with staff and media as well as neighborhood citizens, I'm authentic and genuine in my communication and my expectations and willingness to deliver on the promises."

Long: "Being authentically myself. What you see is what you get. I believe in being very cautious with what I say and making sure that if I say it, I deliver it. I believe in showing up along with my staff. It's not fair for me to tell them to do something that I would not be wiling to do. I also believe that it's important to have respect for others. I have children and I have to lead by example, so I just try to have the highest integrity and ethics."

Question: What are Savannah's most pressing issues?

Melder: You're dealing with two public health issues — the COVID 19 pandemic and gun violence and you have to treat it like a public health issue as well. If people don't feel safe in their community that can reverberate negatively in every aspect of life. The poverty rate of over 22% (is another issues). We have to make sure we're creating pathways to every part of the community.

Lloyd: Poverty and crime. The key to solving poverty is education. We have to identify the areas where we have the highest poverty rates. Then you have to have a targeted approach to address it. Crime is very similar. We're going to take a three-pronged approach — ShotSpotter technology in addition to additional surveillance, a comprehensive mentoring program and the End Gun Violence program.

Long: "Constant leadership. (City) employees need to see at the top of the organization someone who cares and is ready to execute. Whenever you shift leadership as significant as city administration, you're shifting priorities, you're shifting strategies, so the key is for them to pick somebody who is going to stay rooted and take Savannah in the direction it needs to go."

Question: Why didn't you apply for the job when it first posted last year?

Lloyd: Last year you had a brand new council. They had probably identified 240 to 280 initiatives. As a brand new city manager, I knew that was going to be tough. At that time I made the decision for me and my family and where I was in my career, that wasn't the right thing for me. What makes this time different is that public service will never be easy. My mindset now is that public service and the city of Savannah and the community of Savannah is bigger than my fear of these types of initiatives."

Question: Why Savannah?

Melder: It feels a lot like the place I grew up in. It feels familiar in a way that's meaningful to me personally. Second, professionally, The work that I've been doing in the last seven years in D.C., those are the same challenges and opportunities here. The issues of reducing poverty, affordable housing, reducing homelessness and crime, using an equity and health-based approach to the work, good government — those are things I do every day in Washington D.C. and I feel those are transferable here."

Long: As I fell in love with learning how you all do things here, I was falling in love with the city as well. Savannah, as a city, needs somebody who's a uniter. They need strong leadership. They need somebody who's not afraid to get out there and roll their sleeves up and really do the work. Of you choose somebody different and they don't stay around, I will probably apply again."

Question: How would you deal with a divided council?

Melder: I think my job as city manager is to help facilitate a process where the governing body feels like they're getting the information they need to deliberate effectively on the issues of the day — that they know they've got somebody in city government who can make sure they've got an agenda that matters and that they're creating all the spaces for the types of dialogue and decision-making that needs to happen. If there's a limiting factor that government can't get beyond, then sometimes the answer is 'no'. I work for a governing body and your job is to try to find options for them to be able to meet their goals."

Lloyd: "What I can do is find common ground and give them an opportunity to work together. What I've already seen in this council is there is common ground. When you talk about clean energy, plastic resolution, they seem to be on one page. Disagreements are okay. I think it's unreasonable to think they will always agree, but I think it is reasonable to think that they will be civil as they disagree. I hope to engage council members on an individual basis and use that common ground as a proverbial stepping stone that allows us to get more agreement on council."

Long: "I've had that experience because in my first opportunity at administration (North College Hill), I was appointed by the mayor, but the council was not on board with their choice. So what I did is, I'm consistent with my organization in the way that I give out quality to each alderman. I had a meeting set up for every council member and made sure that I showed up even if they didn't. At the end of the day, let's get back to the business of the city. We know why you were elected, you have some amazing things that you're trying to accomplish so let's get you to accomplish those."

Question: Savannah is at a flashpoint when it comes to public safety. The city just experienced a mass shooting, which prompted pleas from law enforcement and local officials for better communication from the community when public trust in the police department is already eroding. How do you plan on building trust with underserved communities, especially those where residents may not trust authorities?

Melder: "That's a key issue in every city in America today, but there's not a one-size-fits-all solution because even though we share some grim experiences across the nation, it feels different from community to community. The role of city manager is, one, being able to support the resource department so that it can respond to community trust issues properly. Two is realizing that public safety isn't just a police issue and that we have to have those non-policing assets and resources available, so that allows law enforcement to not have to do everything."

Lloyd: "We need to work on that relationship with the community. But when you talk about what we are going to do with it, we've already started. Me, Chief Minter, several council members and the police department went right back to (the site of the shooiting) and we grieved with that community and showed that community that, although bad things happen, we are still right here. I believe us going back to the scene of the crime and doing something positive is how you show that community that, although bad things happen, we are not bad people, we are not your enemy. That's the only way we rebuild that relationship — event by event, interaction by interaction, piece by piece."

Long: "It's been my experience that people do not feel comfortable coming to the government. It's that 'boots on the ground' mentality, where we have to meet people where they're at. The goal is to let them know that we are flexible enough to come to them rather than expecting them to come to us. With that distrust, it's because they're so used to people coming in when an event happens but leaving. We have to make that a consistent practice to show we're going to be visible in the community day in and day out."

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Visions for Savannah: City manager finalists address pressing issues in Q&A session